Without Davis, however, K.C. Boutiette's chances of winning his first and only medal in his final Olympic Games decline sharply, as do Chad Hedrick's chances of winning a widely predicted five gold medals.

Davis, who with his mother Cherie has had an acrimonious relationship with U.S. speedskating officials and a sometimes tenuous rapport with his teammates, bristled at the suggestion that he was letting them down.

"A lot of these people haven't even skated as long as me," Davis said. "I've been skating since I was 6 years old.

"And I'll be pretty upset if people got upset about my decisions and what I feel is best for me because, all in all, I know what's best for me. And if I feel that not skating the pursuit will do me better for the 1,000 meters, then I'm going to do it.

"I worked to get here. None of my teammates helped me get to where I am. I worked hard, and I got myself here."

The men's and women's team pursuit is a two-day event beginning Wednesday, with medal races Thursday. The 1,000 is two days later.

Teams of three skaters race simultaneously for eight laps. The winning time is based on the last member of the team to cross the finish line.

"I'm here to skate the 1,000, 5,000 and 1,500 meters," Davis said. "U.S. Speedskating can't tell people to skate the team pursuit. Even though I am qualified to skate the team pursuit, I didn't come here to skate it. It's my choice, and I chose not to."

Said Hedrick: "We'd have a really, really good chance if Shani skated. [But] I'm not going to beg Shani to skate the pursuit with me."

Boutiette was clearly bitter about Davis' decision but refused to acknowledge that his withdrawal hurts the team's chances.

"We've been skating well with me, Chad and Derek [Parra]," he said. "We'll do fine. I think we've got a pretty good strategy going into it, and we've got Chad and [a plan] nobody else is doing so we'll see if we can get through it."Asked if he had spoken to Davis, Boutiette replied "a little bit." He refused to elaborate except to add, "I don't want to get an e-mail from his mom."